US3593723A

US3593723A - Cigarette holder

Info

Publication number: US3593723A
Application number: US836116A
Authority: US
Inventors: Yoshinori Nishida
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1968-07-01
Filing date: 1969-06-24
Publication date: 1971-07-20
Anticipated expiration: 1988-07-20
Also published as: GB1238406A

Abstract

A cigarette holder having a pair of recesses formed in the sides of the holder at its mouthpiece end and the holder being divisible into separable upper and lower parts by a hinge at the mouthpiece end of the holder, thereby preventing direct striking of tobacco smoke against mouth tissues and permitting simple and positive cleaning of the holder.

Description

United States Patent 1 1 eans [72] inventor Yoshinori Nishida 26 Hoshirnoto okuno-cho, Yawatu-cho, Tsuzuki-gun, Kyoto-in, Japan [21] Appl No. 836,116 122] Filed June 24, 1969 [45] Patented July 20, 1971 [32] Priority July 1, 1968 [331 Japan .1 1 55,849

[54] CIGARETTE HOLDER 7 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

' s2 u.s.c| 1311/199, 131/229 [51] Int. Cl A241 07/00, A24f 13/02 [50] FieldolSearch 131/199, 229, 230, 1 1

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 632,565 9/1899 Hall 131/199 Hauser Berchtold....

Sullivan Martin Segal Droop Sharron....

10/1960 Adams 8/1968 Allseits etal.

FOREIGN PATENTS 5/1911 Germany 1898 GreatBritain Primary Examiner-Joseph S. Reich Attorney-Jacobs & Jacobs 131/199 131/199 131/229 131/229 131/199 131/199X 131/229 l31/230UX 131/11X CIGARETTE HOLDER This invention relates to a cigarette holder for smoking a cigarette and more particularly to a holder having a pair of lateral recesses formed therein and hinged to be divisible into separable upper and lower parts by a hinge at its mouthpiece end.

As is well known, a conventional holder is constructed so that inhaled smoke passes directly into the mouth to the throat and bronchus, in alignment with the inlet passage in its mouthpiece.

Since the mouthpiece end of the holder is much narrower than the cigarette receiving and burning portion, the smoke inhaled is very dense and also flows at high speed through the reduced section of the mouthpiece. On the other hand, people who use holders are in the habit of holding them in the same position unintentionally, and accordingly those who have long been users of holders are in danger of suffering from troubles such as irritation and inflammation in regions of the delicate membranes of the throat, which are reported to give rise to cancers. This fact is also applicable to holders provided with nicotine and tar-reducing means such as a filter.

Furthermore, it has often been mentioned as another disadvantage inherent in holders of conventional types that the nicotine and tar effused and left stuck to the inner wall is difficult of removal without the aid of a slender linear body or a solvent and the task of removing. the tar is itself particularly troublesome. Recently there have been sold on themarket in increasing numbers holders of various types which are designed to cause the nicotine and tar to effuse and remain in substantial amounts in the holders-and thereby to remove the harmful effects of tobacco. But these holders are all of the construction which makes it necessary to leave such a large quantity oftar in the duct that operation for removal of the tar not only becomes all the more troublesome but the tar stuck to the inner wall of the smoke duct is difficult of complete removal.

A primary object of this invention is to prevent the smoke of tobacco from striking directly'against the interior of the throat and thus to reduce the irritationofsmoke by diffusing the smoke in the front throat region of the mouth.

Another object of the invention is to provide means to make cleaning ofa holder extremely easy, simple and complete by a structure in which the holder is made up of hinged separable upper and lower parts along its longitudinal axis bysplitting the holder into halves for cleaning.

Still another object of the invention'is to provide a holder of low cost that makes it possible to simply shape a mouthpiece for achieving the primary object and. the separable structure by the use of plastic material such as polypropylene.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a preferred form of holder to which the invention is applied;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the opened holder with its cigarette receptacle member detached;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line l-l of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged transverse sectional view taken along line ll-ll of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 5 of another embodiment of the invention. I

As is apparent from the drawing, the invention comprises a pair of holder valves 1 pivotally connected by the hinge 2 at the rear end, said hinge 2 having on the inside a pair of recesses 3,, open on their lateral sides and meeting at right angles to the longitudinal direction of the holder. The holder halves l, and the hinge 2 are integrally shaped of plastic material preferably polypropylene, having good elasticity sufficient to withstand repeated hinging actions.

The hinge 2 is shownin the form ofa solid thin tapered endpieee connected to the mouthpiece ll. The recesses 3, are formed by shallow oval slots constituted by grooves 3.

When the holder halves l are closed, i.e,, superposed, they form a smoke duct 4 that extends longitudinally along the interior of the holder from the end of the holder opposite to the hinge 2 to the hinge 2, said smoke duct 4 terminating at said recesses 3,. The holder halves l are provided on their peripheral walls 6 of the smoke duct 4 with coupling means 5 for holding the upper and lower holder halves l in superposed or closed relation in conjunction with lugs 8 and grooves 7, said continuous projected lugs being formed on the peripheral walls 6 on both sides of the smoke duct 4 of one holder half 1 and said grooves being formed on the peripheral walls 6 on both sides of the smoke duct 4 of the other holder half 1 to receive the lugs 8 therein.

When the holder halves l are superposed, they constitute at the fore end thereof, a cigarette receptacle receiving portion for indirectly or directly holding a cigarette. The cigarette receptacle portion shown is an example of indirectly holding the cigarette in which the fore ends of the holder halves l are formed to be used as a cigarette receptacle member having fitting portions 5 over which a hollow cylindrical cigarette receptacle member 9 is press fitted to combine the halves l and to protect the receptacle-fitting portions 5 against damage due to the heat of burning cigarette ll0. But if the coupling force of both halves 1 is sufficient, the cigarette receptacle member 9 is not always necessary, and the portions 5 may be used directly as a cigarette receptacle portion by coating the inside of the fitting portions 5 with heat resistant material or inlaying the same with a fireproof ring. The hinge 2 may be of any shape besides the one shown so far as it is adapted to maintain sufficient elasticity to bear the repeated hinging actions of the holder halves l. The smoke duct 4 as shown has portions which are made different in inner diameter in such a manner that the central part of the holder has a large inner diameter 4 the cigarette receptacle fitting portion at the fore end has a medium-size inner diameter 4, and the rear end por tion 4,, is small in inner diameter. This arrangement is intended to remove the harmful constituents from the smoke oftobacco by taking advantage of the characteristic features of the invention that make it possible to split the holder into two parts and to give easy access to the interior of the holder and thus to detachably fit a tar-removing filter 12 such as a fiber filter, silica gel or the like in the large-diameter duct portion 4 But the smoke duct 4 of the invention is not always in need of combined use of such a filter 12 but may be a single duct having the same diameter throughout its length. The lateral recesses 3 allow the use of a semicircular or any other desired shape, besides the flat oval one shown, that changes the direction of smoke and diffuses the smoke into the mouth.

The grooves 7 and the lugs 8 formed as a coupling means are shown as a continuation of the peripheral walls 6. This is intended to make the coupling force of the halves l sufficient and to prevent leakage of the tar in the smoke ducts 4 and make draught of smoke sufficient, and when the peripheral walls 6 are sufficient in thickness, it is desirable to increase the coupling force of the walls by the use of keyways 7, and keys 8, formed in the center of each wall end surface as shown in FIG. 6.

Another characteristic feature of this invention lies in the fact that the entire holder is made of synthetic resin having elasticity to bear repeated hinging actions and is assembled by the elastic coupling force of the coupling means to place one of the holder halves 1 above the other with the hinge 2 used as a pivot and that accordingly the construction described not only prevents the holder from ,being unintentionally split into two parts during use but also eliminates the possibility of the nicotine and tar in the smoke ducts 4 leaking from the coupling portions because the distance on the keyway and key surfaces of the coupling means formed on the peripheral walls 6 of the smoke ducts is great. And when the holder is depressed to expand against the coupling force of the coupling means after the cigarette receptacle member has been detached, the holder can easily be split into its upper and lower parts so that the nicotine and tar remaining in the smoke ducts 4 can be removed or washed away with ease, with the result that smokers can have draughts of fresh smoke passing through a clean duct 4, thus being released from the nicotine and tar odor incidental to smoking with a holder. Furthermore, the hinge 2 and the holder halves 1 can be placed on a pass production basis by injection molding due to their construction whereby also the solid hinge portion 2 thus has a blind inner surface preventing direct access of smoke to throat tissues.

lclaim:

l. A holder for smoking a cigarette comprising a pair of separable upper and lower parts, a hinge portion connecting said parts at one end in a freely pivotable manner, said hinge portion having a pair of recesses extending at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the holder, said upper and lower parts being shaped to form a smoke duct when the parts are in superposed position, the smoke duct having plural portions of different transverse dimensions and extending the length of the holder to the mouthpiece end thereof which has a blind end at the hinge portion for directing smoke laterally outwardly through said recesses, said smoke duct having its largest portion centrally of the length ofthe holder, an internally and externally relatively reduced outer end forming coupling means and a receptacle adapted to receive a cigarette end and fitted over the coupling means and a relatively narrow duet portion extending to the inner surface of the hinge portion.

2. A holder according to claim 1, wherein the coupling means has an interfitting keyway and key in its walls 3. A holder according to claim 1, wherein the receptacle is in the form of a socket which, when fitted in place on the coupling means, maintains the separable holder parts in superposed portion.

4. A holder according to claim 3, wherein the socket has an apertured transverse wall abutting the coupling means 5. A holder according to claim 1, wherein said recesses are flat and oval.

6. A holder according to claim 2, wherein the coupling means is an integral extension of the separable parts.

7. A holder according to claim 1, wherein the parts thereof are composed of polypropylene.

Claims

1. A holder for smoking a cigarette comprising a pair of separable upper and lower parts, a hinge portion connecting said parts at one end in a freely pivotable manner, said hinge portion having a pair of recesses extending at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the holder, said upper and lower parts being shaped to form a smoke duct when the parts are in superposed position, the smoke duct having plural portions of different transverse dimensions and extending the length of the holder to the mouthpiece end thereof which has a blind end at the hinge portion for directing smoke laterally outwardly through said recesses, said smoke duct having its largest portion centrally of the length of the holder, an internally and externally relatively reduced outer end forming coupling means and a receptacle adapted to receive a cigarette end and fitted over the coupling means and a relatively narrow duct portion extending to the inner surface of the hinge portion.

2. A holder according to claim 1, wherein the coupling means has an interfitting keyway and key in its walls.

3. A holder according to claim 1, wherein the receptacle is in the form of a socket which, when fitted in place on the coupling means, maintains the separable holder parts in superposed portion.

4. A holder according to claim 3, wherein the socket has an apertured transverse wall abutting the coupling means.

5. A holder according to claim 1, wherein said recesses are flat and oval.